Poch heads to homeland for midfield playmaker

Spurs have been linked with a number of young midfielders in recent days including another ‘new Modric’ – Nikola Vlasic of Hajduk Split. We’ve seen plenty of these come and go – Alen Halilovic was the most notable one who eventually crossed from Dinamo Zagreb to the Barcelona B team but Vlasic is an interesting player and it’s worth taking a look at his brief career.

At 16, the attacking midfielder is already a regular in the Hajduk first team and was on the mark for his side against Dundalk in a Europa League qualifier last week.

It’s reported that the Croatian side are looking for £6m but that Spurs are hopeful of doing a deal at around half that figure.

Elsewhere, there are claims that Mauricio Pochettino has identified River Plate’s Manuel Lanzini as a potential target. The 21 year old is a more established player than Vlasic and has so far played 89 games for his current club.

River Plate’s President Rodolfo D’Onofrio admitted that while he hadn’t received any official bids, he was prepared to listen to offers for the player.

“We still haven’t received anything from Lazio and nor from any other team,” he said.

“We only heard what is being said in the press. Of course, we are going to analyse an offer if it comes in.

“However, we are also going to listen to what the player wants to do.”